The skies had turned dark when Claymore One and Two of the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention were dropped off. The transport helicopter and its two escorts disappeared rapidly into the darkness as the two special force teams prepped their equipment for their mission.
Earlier in the day, the transport helicopter and its escorts had infiltrated into the airspace of the Protectorate. High above them, a FB - 1S Mariner, running AWACS, guided them as they penetrated over a thousand kilometres into the mainland.
The flight was relatively uneventful as they barely even encountered any airships. The lands below them were mostly shrublands with the occasional region of savanna surrounding rivers or bodies of water. With active avoidance of any populated centres, which were sparse and spread far apart, the small group of helicopters managed to evade any notice.
The transport helicopter having finally reached the limits of its fuel had dropped off its cargo. The two teams of special forces operatives divided up the small pile of supplies between themselves. Two ASAGs, each assigned to one team, carried the bulk of the supplies.
Casting strengthening and stamina spells on themselves, the two teams started off across the dark dryland with the help of dark vision spells, as they saved on the batteries of their night vision goggles, to be used only during combat.
The first night, they made forty kilometres over the relatively bumpy land. When the sun rose up, they saw a land filled with shrubs and sad lonely looking trees that dotted the landscape sparsely. A break was called and the soldiers took a break under the shade of a rocky outcrop. The soldiers rested, fed and relieved themselves for an hour before they continued their journey.
At first, there was banter between the soldiers as they march across the barren lands, but after a while, conversations died off as the silence of their surroundings crept up to them. They barely spotted any animals and only the occasional feather wyvern circling high in the air.
After two days of marching. they came upon some ruins. As the senior most operative and commander of the mission, Tyrier ordered both teams to halt and set up camp within the ruins of a village. The soldiers swept through the ruins, ensuring it was safe from threats before they settled down. Most of the crumbling mud structures had been worn down by ages and none of the dozen or so structures had any roofs left.
Firewood had to be chopped from a nearby petrified tree and carried back, as the wood in the ruins had mostly rotted away in the weather. There was even a broken well still functioning provided a source of water for them. A small fire was soon made under the cover of the most complete ruin and for once, the soldiers had some warm food for the night.
"Hey boss," Hitsu called out as he spotted Tyrier walking past their small campfire. "Something hot to drink?"
Tyrier accepted the warm mug filled with sweet tea. He took a sip of the beverage and sighed as it warmed his body from the inside. "How is everything?"
"Doing fine," Wolf replied from his spot. He had his weapon stripped and was cleaning it meticulously. The rest mumbled out their responses too as well before Tyrier left them to their rest.
After checking in with Claymore Two's operatives posted around the ruins, Tyrier returned to his men and sat down before the campfire and warmed himself from the cold night. He looked at his men who had all snuggled up asleep in their coats before he too wrapped a coat around himself and closed his eyes to catch some sleep before his turn on guard duty.
The following days were monotonous, with the same one tone coloured landscape of shrubs and single trees. They passed by many dried out ruins of villages and camped in them during the night. Radio reports were exchanged with a surveillance aircraft that hung high in the skies for every few hours each day before they returned to refuel.
Finally, on the fifth day, the lead man suddenly raised his fist up and everyone stopped in their tracks and crouched down, their weapons up and scanning their sectors. Even the two ASAG squatted down, folding their legs outwards, to reduce their profile.
Tyrier and Claymore Two's team leader crept forward next to the pointman who had crouched behind a large shrub. Both of them silently observed the direction pointed by the scout and spotted a crude fence surrounding a large patch of farmland. Clusters of dusty looking buildings could be seen on the far side of the farm with a single huge structure standing out.
"That must be their supervisional church," Claymore Two's team leader commented in a low voice. Tyrier gave a grunt of an acknowledgement as he swept the farm with his field glasses, bringing the tiny dots in the distance to finger sized figures in his vision.
"There's a lot of workers down there..." He said as he observed the farm. "There are guards overwatching them too."
He turned around and made a couple of hand gestures to the rest, who fanned out and crept forward, taking positions behind cover and concealment. Tyrier pointed to a small row of hills in the North and said, "Take your team and set up over there while my team will take that ridge on South East side and observe."
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The two team leaders started discussing their mission objectives and divided the farm into four zones from A to D. Zone A, facing North West, consisted of the farmland and a handful of buildings that appeared to be dwellings for the guards. Zone B, facing North East, consisted of the church and several structures that were built with higher quality materials and aesthetics. It was highly agreed that those buildings were mostly for the higher ranked and priest. There was even a large flat area that was suspected to be a landing pad for airships.
Zone C, facing South East, covered the village where all the workers lived. Dozens and dozens of rundown buildings were cramped together in a disorderly manner. It appeared that the houses had been built and rebuilt over the years from scavaged parts and wood scraps. Zone D, facing South West, similarly like Zone A, covered the other half of the farmlands, including several large barn like structures, most likely to be storage and warehouses.
Surrounding the entire farmland, was a simple crude wooden fence and two dirt roads leading out of the farm from the North and East part. As it was still midday, figures could be seen working on rows of thorny bushes while others were transporting buckets of water from somewhere.
Both teams separated as they headed closer to the farm for their mission. Tyrier led his people towards an inclined area that was a couple of meters high and just over four hundred meters away from the farm's perimeter fence.
Breaking out their entrenching tools, the small team started digging into the hard ground and by nightfall, they had dug a couple of fighting positions out and covered their positions with camo netting and decorated with shrubs to further conceal their positions.
A couple of large telescoped cameras and binoculars were set up as the Claymore One members set up their observation equipment. The ASAG supporting them seemed glad that it was no longer carrying any cargo on its back, dug a small pit like some sort of crab with its legs and settled down, humming happily as it went into standby mode.
Once everything was in place, Tyrier organised a rotation of duties and the first group made themselves comfortable as they used the observation equipment to scan Zones C and D while Claymore Two were responsible for Zones A and B.
Taking the first watch, Hitsu and Altied sat down before the observation equipment and powered up the portable computer and tablet. Keying in a few commands into the tablet, the cameras whined as the program overtook and soon, the computer started humming as the facial recognition program started running in full power.
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The Old World, The Iron Kingdom, Protectorate Grand Inquisition Fleet, Flagship Ramuh's Judgement
Chief Inquisitor Nerssia stared hungrily at the image of a floating island flickering on the viewing crystals. The Inquisition Judges had divined the last piece of the Seven Artifacts was onboard the floating island at great cost with a third of the Judges dying from mana burn just for this bit of information.
"Inquisitor!" An aide dressed in a long crimson red jacket saluted. "The Fleets have formed up and are awaiting your command!"
Chief Inquisitor Nerssia seemed to not have heard the words of the aide as she continued to stare at the magical projection of the floating island. The aide kept his head lowered as he waited patiently for one of the highest authorities in the whole Protectorate to respond.
Finally, with a playful smile underneath her white inquisitor mask, she pointed at the image of the floating island and said, "Go! That floating island must be captured at all cost! For Justice!"
"For Justice!" The aide saluted again and hurried off. Soon a slight shudder could be felt on the decks as powerful aerial screws were engaged. The massive flagship Ramuh's Judgement shaped like an arrowhead surrounded by hundreds of cruisers and battleships slowly edged forward, its size four times as large as the largest battleships of the Protectorate.
She half heartedly listened to the reports streaming in from her aides and officers as the entire Protectorate fleet advanced like an unstoppable wave. Despite the losses suffered by the Protectorate in the past few days due to the appearance of the Iron Kingdom's floating island and reinforcements, she was not bothered by it at all.
For those that died, died for Justice! Their sins will be cleansed by the sacrifices they made for Justice and Order. They will be awarded the deserving Judgement by Ramuh himself when they ascend to his Holy Kingdom of Law and Order.
And the ships that were sacrificed were all ageing ships which losses are negligible to the overall strength of the Protectorate. Arranged around the Flagship Ramuh's Judgement, one can see that the total fighting strength of the Protectorate has not diminished much were the thoughts of Chief Inquisitor Nerssia.
She thought of the foolish Judgement Day planned by the members of the Grand Jury and wondered how did they ever think to achieve such an undertaking. Using numbers to overwhelm the entire Old World and enforce Judgement on all the lawless? Those self centered old idiots kept looking down and underestimating the resolve and strength of the other Old World nations and kingdoms to such a point that even thinking that Protectorate's military strength was the strongest in the entire Old World!
Still, with their unrealistic plan of unleashing Judgement Day upon the Old World, she managed to get her only chance to grab the last Artifact of the Gods! Once with all Seven in her hands, she can bring Ramuh back to this plane and the whole world will truly be Judged!
"Inquisitor! We are almost upon the lawless ships!" A report snapped her out of her thoughts. She walked across the carpeted floors of the bridge and stood right at the ceiling to floor windows to personally observe the enemy. Already, she could spot the white puffs of steam cannons discharging their loads in her direction.
"All ships... Full steam ahead!" Chief Inquisitor Nerssia snapped. "Bring our steam cannons to bear!"
Bright rainbow flashes erupted all around the windows as projectiles from the Iron Kingdom fleet smashed against the magical barriers of the Protectorate ships. The Protectorate ships charged forward while they endured the heavy fire from the Iron Kingdom as they closed the distance to their own steam cannon range.
The magical barriers shimmered and flashed non stop as if it was an umbrella blocking the rain. Finally, the report of the fleet was in position rang out and hidden under her mask, a bloodthirsty expression formed on her face. "Show those heretics the way to Judgement! Destroy them all! FOR JUSTICE!"
"FOR JUSTICE!!!"